This invention is concerned with a folding box forming a hinged lid container especially designed for cigarettes and other smoking articles. The folding box consists of cardboard or carton or laminated material.
An object of the invention is to provide a folding cigarette box having a cover or cap which is easily movable and which can be locked in its closed position in order to avoid the cigarettes or the like from falling out.
A further object of the invention is to provide a unitary folding cigarette box which can be opened and closed many times by a single hand operation and producable at low cost on standard machinery.
A further object of the invention is to provide a folding cigarette box having an integral pivoted cap, the cap being locked by an easy lock mechanism which can be used many times without losing its function.
A further object of the invention is to provide a folding cigarette box which is made from the minimum amount of material on standard packaging machinery having a locking mechanism contained within the wall portions which forms a part thereof.
A further object of the invention is to provide a folding box which has locking elements which engage and release in a positive manner and generate a signal or click when opened or closed.
A further object is to provide a folding box for cigarettes and the like that can be locked and unlocked and which presents a smooth walled box with no interrupted surfaces when in a closed position and is especially compatible with the standard cellophane outer wrapping.
Hinged lid containers for smoking articles such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,708,108 have been long known in the art. In such containers protruding lock tabs or ears have been provided which functionally interlock with raised score lines. Alternately, such containers have been provided with latching tabs which project from the cover and the container body respectively to latch the cover to the container, see U.S. Pat. No. 3,963,173.
It has also been known to provide such containers with small rounded projections or locking lugs which extend outwardly from the side walls to engage hook like extensions in the cover when in a closed position, see U.S. Pat. No. 2,848,152. Or the hinged cover portion may be constructed so as to be positioned outside of the stationary portion of the container when in a closed position, see U.S. Pat. No. 2,202,280.
It has also been known to provide small rectangular tabs which extend ouwardly from the container body to functionally hold the hinged cover when in a closed position, see U.S. Pat. No. 2,848,153. Other constructions include hinged covers per se or in cooperation with protruding tabs or locking projections, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,777, U.S. Pat. No. 4,083,455, U.S. Pat. No. 3,794,238, U.S. Pat. No. 3,823,865, U.S. Pat. No. 3,207,416 and British Pat. No. 642, 988.
All of the above constructions fail to disclose or suggest applicant's novel folding box with a hinged cover having a locking mechanism formed from the wall portions which lies in the same plane of the wall portions and is free from any protruding tabs or ears which projected or extended or lie outside the plane of the wall portions. All such prior constructions contain the common deficiency of failing to provide a simple reusable locking mechanism which is contained within the wall portions to present a smooth uninterrupted wall surface and which is made from the minimum amount of container material on standard packaging machinery and is thus most economical.
The present invention consists of a unitary folding box comprising a front wall, a rear wall, a pair of side walls, a bottom wall and an upper wall; an opening provided in the upper wall in the adjacent front wall and in the pair of side walls extending over the width of the box; an integral cap closing said opening and comprising an upper wall portion, a front wall portion and a pair of side wall portions, said cap wall portions being arranged in the planes of their respective adjacent walls of the box, a pivoted mounting of the cap at the box the swinging axis of which being provided in a wall portion and extending perpendicularly to the side walls; and cooperating locking means provided in adjacent wall portions of the box and the cap.
The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.